The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a pretty fun, family-friendly low fantasy. I don't know why 80s fantasy films seem to get all the hype when more modern films use tested, successful story-telling techniques, and almost always look good. Maybe I just don't have access to people whose tastes aren't slanted by nostalgia. That being said, there is very little that is new or creative in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Facing 80s hype, I don't think this film is better than The Neverending Story, even though it looks better. Back in the 80s, did films even have $150 million budgets? I don't know. Still, there was a lot of crap in the 80s and 90s. Have you seen A Kid in King Arthur's Court? That one was almost as bad as the Croods.
Back to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The apprentice is David, played by Jay Baruchel. I've been a fan of his since he starred in MTV's collge comedy-drama Undeclared, which I thought was a great show. For this film, either he or the director chose that he should change his voice to sound as much like a poindexter as possible. It doesn't really work, but I think he's still a good, entertaining actor, and despite the stupid voice, his character is very relatable to the nerdy kids who probably love this movie, as I would have loved it in my childhood.
But per usual, Disney gives a totally false view of what it's like to be twenty years old. How many college students have their own, dexter-style lab in New York City, and build their own huge tesla coils? Growing up, Disney set me up for a lot of disappointments, but we can go into detail about that some other time. When fantasy meets reality, even a fictional reality, that fictional reality has to be believable.
Nick Cage may have phoned in his performance, I don't know. He makes a great sensei-type character; Balthazar, the Merlinean. I don't know why the creators of this film needed to use the names of pre-existing legends like Merlin, Balthazar, and 'Morgana La Fay', especially when this story has nothing to do with such historical legends. If they are going to steal names, they could at least have done something ironic, like having a character named Batman who is definitely not Batman. We had one of those in my home town, and he worked at Taco Gringo.
Let's acknowledge that this film was named after and inspired by the piece in Fantasia. As Batman might have wanted to, David enchants the mops to do his chores. So I ask: How many mops does one laboratory need? It makes no sense for them to have ten mops to clean one floor, and ten sponges to clean one sink. But I get it. It's a kids' movie, and kids don't care about plausibility and empty promises. They are easily fooled. But I can't give The Sorcerer's Apprentice a pass just for being good at being a kids' movie.
1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Adaptation
4. Birdy
5. Wild at Heart
6. Color Out of Space
7. Peggy Sue Got Married
8. City of Angels
9. Drive Angry
10. Lord of War
11. Gone in 60 Seconds
12. Matchstick Men
13. Vampire's Kiss
14. Con Air
15. Face/Off
16. Honeymoon in Vegas
17. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
18. Bringing Out the Dead
19. The Family Man
20. It Could Happen to You
21. 8mm
22. Ghost Rider
23. Next
24. The Weather Man
25. The Croods
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